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Hey Marketing Bestie,

I saw so many friends at INBOUND. Were you one of them? I even got on stage even though public speaking still freaks me out and I facetimed Ari a lot.

Aside from seeing friends IRL, my favorite part was getting early peeks at the stuff great Marketers are cooking up. One of the coolest things I saw was HubSpot's Loop Marketing Era launch.

You know when someone uses “era” it’s a big deal. And this WAS. 👀

If I had a time machine, I'd take you back to INBOUND to see it.

Instead, I can share this playbook + this link to get early access to these tools. More on that later...

See you at the end for a selfie.

Was this email forwarded to you?

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MARKETINGLAND SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENTS

This is NOT a drill. This IS a hint about the selfie at the end of this email.

Expert Email Marketer and Bathroom Break Bestie Jay Schwedelson is on the speaker list at Marketingland 2025.

The screenshots were going NUTS when he presented last year. Whether you love our pod antics or need some practical tactics to use ASAP, don't miss it.

Save your free spot now 🏰

How to Get Everyone Aligned on the Brand

You ever read a brand's site, then hear their CEO speak, then see a campaign they launched…

And none of it sounds like it came from the same company?

That’s not a messaging problem.

That’s a clarity problem.

The Clarity Gap

Most internal brand decks are where clarity goes to die.

They're long. They're dense. They're made for approvals, not action.

They sit in Notion folders. Collecting digital dust.

And when someone from Product, Sales, or Support tries to talk about the brand?

They either say something way off. Or they say nothing at all.

It’s not their fault. The brand lives in Marketing’s head. And nowhere else.

That’s the clarity gap.

If you're serious about building a brand that grows from the inside out, you've got to close it.

The Fix

You don’t need a new brand book.

You need a Brand Notecard: Something short, memorable, and actually useful. It should take 30 seconds to read and instantly tell someone what the brand stands for, how it sounds, and why it matters.

Marc Benioff did this at Salesforce. He gave every employee a pocket-sized brand card with the essentials. It traveled with them, it got used, and it made the brand feel alive. That’s the point. If your brand only exists on the marketing team’s cloud storage, it’s not a brand. It’s just a deck with a logo.

What Goes on the Notecard

This isn’t for decoration. It’s for doing.

It should fit on one page and live in everyone’s head.

Here’s what goes on it:

1️⃣. Brand Promise

One line. Clear. Memorable. Say what you do and why it matters.

Examples:

- Liquid Death: Murder your thirst
- Airbnb: Belong anywhere

2️⃣. Core Values

3 to 5 words that reflect how your team actually behaves. Not a list you Googled five minutes before a culture slide.

Example:

Patagonia: Quality. Integrity. Environmentalism. Justice. Not Bound By Convention.

3️⃣. Tone of Voice

The personality behind your words. Should be obvious in your emails, ads, and even error messages.

Example:

Oatly: Humorous. Conversational. Irreverent

Pick 3 words and hold every piece of content to that standard.

4️⃣. Do’s and Don’ts

Make it practical. Real phrases your team can copy or avoid.

Do say:

- “Built for people who do more with less”
- “Growth without the guesswork”

Don’t say:

- “Omnichannel innovation at scale”
- “Best-in-class digital transformation solutions”

This is your brand guardrail. Everyone from interns to execs should use it.

5️⃣. Rally Cry

The internal line that reminds your team why you exist. It should mean something even when you’re not winning.

Examples:

- Shopify: Arm the rebels
- Airbnb: Belong anywhere

If your team can’t rally around it, keep working.

This notecard doesn’t sit in a Slack doc.

It travels. It’s recited. It’s lived.

How to Roll It Out

Don’t just drop it in Slack. Embed it.

Here’s how to make the notecard stick:

Start at the top: Leaders should use it in meetings and messaging. If they don’t, no one else will.

Show it in every team meeting: Start with it. End with it. Make it your North Star.

Train new hires on it: Walk through it on day 1. Show how it applies to real work.

Keep it visible: Pin it. Print it. Post it. Make it impossible to forget.

Turn it into habit: Use it in reviews. Use it in content reviews. Use it in team critiques.

Show it.

If it’s not in use, it’s not alive.

Why This Actually Works

Most internal brand docs collect dust. Too long. Too vague. Too easy to ignore.

The notecard works because it’s built for the real world. It’s short enough to stick. Clear enough to repeat. Tactical enough to guide decisions.

It gives your team a shared script. So every email, ad, and social post sounds like it came from the same brand, even if it didn’t come from the same person.

That’s how brands become unforgettable. Consistency, not complexity.

Steal This

Don’t overthink it. Steal the format. Make it yours.

1 notecard. 5 sections:

1️⃣. Brand Promise
2️⃣. Core Values
3️⃣. Tone of Voice
4️⃣. Do’s and Don’ts
5️⃣. Rally Cry

Print it. Pin it. Post it in every team channel.

MEME OF THE WEEK